'KO of the Night' bonus turned into a negative for UFC Fight Night 47's Shawn Jordan

A UFC fight-night bonus is typically something to be celebrated. The $50,000 awards are handed out to the fighters who turn in the most exceptional performance at an event. Unfortunately for heavyweight Shawn Jordan, one of those awards resulted in his downfall.

Jordan, a former LSU football player who was a part of two national championship teams and still resides in Baton Rouge, La. received a $50,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus for his 59-second blowout of Pat Barry at UFC 161 in June 2013. Since then, Jordan has run into the first losing streak of his career. He suffered first-round losses to Matt Mitrione and Gabriel Gonzaga.

According to “The Savage,” the money he gathered for his victory over Barry took him off track. The paycheck was so sweet that he wanted another one. In turn, he put too much effort into chasing bonuses and not enough on winning.

“Sometimes you get a knockout or a bonus and it skews your perception of things,” Jordan told MMAjunkie. “You’re in there with another man who is 260 pounds – we all hit hard. You get in there, you start brawling, and you lose focus.

“I was making mistakes, and unfortunately with the heavyweights, you don’t have much room for error or time to get going. Everyone is just so big and hits so hard that a few mistakes can end a fight.”

On top of his desire to chase dollar signs, Jordan claims he had personal matters that were hindering his ability to train and focus.

“I had some bad influences in my life,” said Jordan, who didn’t want to discuss the issues but said they’re now resolved. “It’s just all old relationship stuff. … I don’t have as much stress anymore. I can just train. I don’t have the negative stuff or any anger. This is just a competition now, and all I have to do is show up and compete.”

Jordan couldn’t have picked a more crucial time to flush the bad influences out of his life.

Two consecutive defeats are never a welcomed circumstance, but to get stopped with strikes in the first round of both contests is devastating. Another poor showing could ultimately push Jordan out the UFC’s door, which is why the pressure going into this fight is immense, he said.

“Absolutely I have a lot of pressure on me to win this fight,” Jordan said. “Every fight there’s a lot of pressure on us to compete and have a good showing and win fights. As far as winning fights, you want to win every fight. It doesn’t matter if your job is on the line or you’re coming off a four-fight winning streak.”

To assure he gets the job done and guarantee at least one more fight under the UFC banner, Jordan made changes to his diet. Even though he never had to cut down to the 265-pound heavyweight limit, he used to put an unnecessary amount of attention on his diet and fighting weight.

Now, with his 30th birthday rapidly approaching, Jordan said he spent less time worrying about how much flab he carries around the waist and more time in the gym punching his training partners in the face.

“Before this fight I would assume a certain weight meant I’m in fight shape,” Jordan said. “I’m probably a little heavier for this fight than normal. Normally I diet pretty heavy during camp to get down below 260, but I think this camp I stopped stressing about it and just trained the fighting, which is more important than the weight.”

Jordan (15-6 MMA, 3-3 UFC) likes to plan ahead and set goals. He stopped that for the time being, though, and said his lone goal at this point is to win his next fight, which comes against Jack May (7-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) at “UFC Fight Night 47: Bader vs. St. Preux” this Saturday.

The event takes place at Bangor’s Cross Insurance Center in Maine with Jordan vs. May scheduled for the FOX Sports 1-televised main card (10 p.m. ET) following prelims on FOX Sports 2 (8 p.m. ET).

“Coming off of two losses, I kind of slowed down and made myself stop trying to think ahead about stuff,” Jordan said. “I don’t even know what’s going on the day after my fight right now. I know I’m going home, but I’ve only planned up to the day of the fight. I want to win this fight, get home, take a deep breath and then start planning my next moves.”

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.